The ''Cuckoo'' class was a class of twelve 4-gun
schooner
A schooner ( ) is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel defined by its Rig (sailing), rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more Mast (sailing), masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than t ...
s of the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
, built by contract in English shipyards during the
Napoleonic War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Napoleonic Wars
, partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
, image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg
, caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...
. They followed the design of the Bermuda-designed and built
''Ballahoo''-class schooners, and more particularly, that of
''Haddock''. The Admiralty ordered all twelve vessels on 11 December 1805. A number of different builders in different yards built them, with all launching in 1806.
Operational lives
Nine of the twelve vessels were lost or disposed of during the war, the survivors being sold in 1816. Enemy forces took four, of which the British were able to retake two. Seven wrecked or foundered with a loss of about 22 crew members in all.
William James wrote scathingly of the ''Cuckoo'' and
''Ballahoo''-class schooners, pointing out the high rate of loss, primarily to wrecking or foundering, but also to enemy action.
[James (1837) Vol. V, pp. 45–46. ] He reports that they were "sent to 'take, burn, and destroy' the vessels of war and merchantmen of the enemy". The record suggests that none seem to have done so successfully. In the only two (arguably three) cases when they did engage enemy vessels, in each case the enemy force was much stronger and the ''Cuckoo''-class vessels were overwhelmed.
James also remarks that:
Ships
Citations
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cuckoo class schooner
Schooners of the Royal Navy
Ship classes of the Royal Navy
Schooner classes